Bella Blind
by MarkerIV
Summary: Navigating the world of Vampires is difficult. How much more so when Bella is blind? Rated M for Mature content and future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

All work is owned by their original author and for the express purpose of my amusement and no monetary gain!

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Sometimes I wonder quite deeply why I was born. Did my parents do something wrong? Or was it perhaps some swing of the pendulum of karma righting some fault I had made in a previous life? I have had all of these possible explanations thrust in my face at one time or another during my 17 years of life. Be it from friends or supposed family, everyone has thrown in their two cents. I suppose that is why I have grown immune to the jeers and taunts.

High School students are cruel, it seems that my every miss-step untimely bump provides them with new fodder for their cannon and the teachers and administration do not seem to care. I would get angry about this... if only I cared. You see it is not school that makes me miserable, it is bad yes, but life can be indefinitely worse.

Renee, my mother. What to say about her today. I suppose the best way to put it is that she is a 12 year old bound in a 36 year old body. Hair brained and with the attention span of a squirrel. I swear she has ADHD or some other undiagnosed reason for her insatiable need for random change and excitement. Half of my youth has been spent attempting to dampen her energy and enthusiasm. You do not quite understand my loathing for this woman. I understand, it is very rare for a child to completely loathe their parent. I shall attempt to explain.

Imagine coming home from school three to four days a month to find everything moved. I mean everything! Couches, tables, lamps, rugs, the microwave and everything in the damned freezer. I have come home to find my own bedroom reorganized and all my underwear and socks moved. That one particular time I finally found them in a basket in my closet after an hour of searching.

If that was not bad enough, the woman then comes home all giddy about the new changes she made to the house and "Isn't it just so exciting, I even color coded your closet clothing system!" Grrr I could strangle her! Every week its some new fad, be it kick boxing, yoga, growing a herb garden (which she never watered and forgot about 3 days later), to skydiving, ice skating, reading... (I know you will just love these new books I got for you Bella!) Do not get me started on her boyfriends either. They rotate in about once a month and I come home to find some random new voice entering my life. I swear it makes me sick.

It is so depressing, that for all of that misery which she put me through on a daily basis, she is the only person I love. She is the only person I could not bear to let go. I have not even gotten to the worst of it yet, now she has gone and really done it. Perhaps that is what makes this flight seem so grim and my world so dark. My mother died yesterday from a crash on the back of a motorcycle driven by her latest fling who had a few too many drinks at the bar. I suppose I will never get the chance to forgive her. Now I am being shipped off by CPS to my supposed father. I cannot even remember my father. I do not even know if he saw me after I was born. It was one of those things I could never get my mother to talk about. I wonder if he even knows that I am blind.

I am Bella, or Bella Blind as the jerks at school would say. This is my story.

---I am going to put up a vote on my Author page to see if this is worth continuing. Please feel free to review, vote and let me know.

Thanks,


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, back again. Hope you enjoy it.

All work is owned by their original author and for the express purpose of my amusement and no monetary gain!

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I hate flying. The whole experience does nothing for me. For three hours I get trapped on a $600 flight next to a snoring asshole who keeps leaning on me. Bored to tears without anyone worth talking or listening to. As if the flight was not bad enough, I have come to despise airports. Full of people who are in too much of a rush to answer a question or lend a helping hand, airports are high on my list of places not to go.

This experience however has been far worse than any other previous experience for one core reason. Now that I am in Seattle I am stuck here at the airport. I am sure my errant father must be around here somewhere, no doubt holding a sign and staring idly into space waiting for me to see and come to him. I have been sitting here for two hours so far near the baggage claim. I can hear the bustle and turning of the baggage carousel, and I "watch" as people go by in dizzying numbers. The sounds are too many to catalogue and leaves me feeling lost in a whirlwind of data that is much too big to process. Eventually I felt a presence come to stand in front of me.

"Bella Higgenbotham?" A deep male and professional sounding voice asks politely. *

"Yes?" I responded, hopefully I am finally getting out of here.

"I am horribly sorry for this delay, you requested to be notified if someone came looking for you, and no one has come yet. However a man is here looking for an 'Isabella Swan', might that be you?

Swan... Figures he would assume I would carry his name. As far as I know he had never even seen me. I must have lost track of myself during my internal monologue as the person in front of me began shifting his weight from foot to foot, the movement betrayed by the sound of his jingling keys. I suppose I should answer and let this poor guy off the hook.

"It might have been... Once, had things turned out differently..." I let my voice fade as I wondered what life would have been like if I had been raised as Bella Swan. Such an idle fantasy to indulge. Ah well, I do not have the luxury of indulging in fantasy. That was my mother's job. "Is the man still here?"

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It was a long four hour drive and chock full of awkward moments and questions. Everything from the embarrassing, "How long have you been blind and how did it happen?" to the mortifying.

"So, What was Phoenix like?" I could tell he was trying to fill the awkward silence with anything just to ease the moment. Unfortunately this is a really dumb topic choice.

"Hot." The pause after my answer was painful. I could tell I would not like where this topic was going.

"Yea... I Bet." His delayed response only cemented the foot in mouth that was sure to follow.

"So, Phoenix huh," I could hear a scratching and rubbing noise. Nails on skin and stubble. Here it comes..."bet you must have enjoyed all that sunshine... I hear the views are quite scenic and the sunsets are beautiful."

I turned my head to the side to hide my mask of discomfort and fumbled for the lever to recline my seat only to come up empty. I continued fumbling, looking for buttons, or a lever and eventually reached under the seat to see if I could at least move the seat back and slouch. Freaking A, What kind of car had no adjustable seat options?

"What are you..." I could hear the unspoken question on Charlie's lips.

I reached back behind my head, surely I could at least adjust the headrest, only to run into a metal cage.

"What kind of car are we in?" I asked hesitantly.

"A Ford Crown Victoria, Police Cruiser."

"You drive a cop car?"

"I am the Chief of Police for Forks."

I realized then that any hopes of managing to live in anonymity had died with that comment. I curled up into a ball, a child too big for their parent's lap, and let my tears silently run themselves out for the rest of the drive.

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When we finally arrived Charlie opened my door for me and the feel of Forks Washington hit me all at once. A cold heavy moisture hung in the air and a slight chill took me. There was no mistaking this place for Phoenix, not even in my dreams would I be able to overwrite the dampness with the comforting heat of memory. I stepped out of the car onto the crunch of gravel, the block was quiet. The only sound was that of our shuffling feet. No noise was coming from either side, likely no close neighbors or major through traffic. At least I would not have to worry about getting run over. Carefully I counted each of the eight steps up as I was led to the pavement and up to the door and burned it into my memory. For now, this was home.

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*Author's Note: According to what information I can find, Higgenbotham is Renee's maiden name. See Wikipedia entry for Renee Dwyer.


	3. Chapter 3

All bow to the Great Stephanie Meyer, owner of everything Twilight! AKA: Not me... :(  
Constructive reviews, both positive negative, are much loved, and sadly still few in number. :(  
I get the bad feeling karma is biting me in the proverbial butt for each story I read and do not review. :(  
Additionally I am going to start labeling points of view, as the viewpoint of the fic is no longer just Bella's.

* * *

APOV

There are certain inconvenient downsides to having visions of the future. Not only is there a constant sense of impatience for events because I do not see the future itself, rather the visions depict decisions that are made leading up to a possible future. Some visions have led me from my 'birth' and never changed, others change rapidly and the permutations can be, to speak in human terms, headache inducing. The most recent cause for my distress has been summed up in the name of one person. Bella Higgenbotham, a girl with events and the future changing so rapidly I do not even know her face. As of recently her involvement with my family was unlikely but possible. Something however changed to move her up here from Phoenix and now my visions of our family caused one hell of a headache with Bella at the very center of it. These headaches get particularly bad when the decisions of others create a slew of other rapidly changing decisions which can change the decisions that caused them... Causing yet more decisions and even more visions... Sometimes it feels as if there is only one way to make sense of all the chaos. Making a core decision to not change my mind concerning a particular outcome, thereby limiting the flux as much as possible. Bella is going to become my sister and my best friend, no matter the pain and chaos it will cause, and especially no matter what Edward thought. All of the alternatives are indefinitely worse and that was why, much to his irritation, I have been translating the Bible from Latin into Japanese for the last month. That is why I am prepared, even though I had no idea what she would be wearing until this morning, I have a neatly folded pair of jeans with a blue tank top and classy white blouse that I purchased last week in my backpack. My vision of an overzealous airport security guard randomly inspecting her luggage was enough to tip me off. I am thankful I did, the brown and orange sweatshirt with purple pants combo was so not working for her. I knew I needed to be in the admin office in exactly 7 minutes, which was unfortunately 2 minutes after the bell would ring. Oh well, the things I put up with and do for my family.

* * *

BPOV

The steady hum of the police cruiser was oddly comforting as Charlie drove me to Fork's High School. Its pulsing rhythm was enough to barely take the edge off of my irritation this morning.

Normally I have my clothing put into separate outfit bags so that I would know I would not be leaving the house 'looking' like a dweeb. This is one of the few motherly tasks my mother used to relish and I used to endure silently. Figuring out new ways to dress up her "Bella Doll" gave her hours of joy. Finding some of her last efforts haphazardly undone and all lumped in a pile was enough to bring me to tears. Damn airport security! Having no clue as to what each article was which, I was forced to ask Charlie to make an acceptable outfit out of the pile. From all his stuttering and um'ing I have a horrible feeling what I am wearing is not something my mother would ever let me leave the house in. He even said, "Girls like purple right?" As if I am supposed to know?

If that was not enough to make me more nervous, then the fact that I had never changed schools without graduating definitely was. Friends that I had known since kindergarten were now gone, and so was someone else. I took another moment for myself and slouched in the passenger seat of the cruiser determined to focus intently on something else until the desire to cry to pieces went away. Unfortunately the only thing that kept coming to mind was the treatment I was sure to get at my first day at this new high school. I was already preparing myself for the inane questions, and the inevitable teasing. I am dreading what new "Nicknames" I will pick up, at least at my old school people had got the teasing out of them early and I had time to get used to the comments. "No eyes" can only hurt for so long before you become numb to it. Speaking of eyes...

"Hey Charlie?"  
"Yes Bella?" "Do you have any sunglasses I could borrow?"  
"Don't you think you will look a little... ridiculous?" He stumbled out, "You know it rains here over 300 days a year, right?"

I flashed him a grimace and strained out a quick, "Please?" I could hear his breathing deepen and and after a minute or so he finally responded.

"Sure. In the glove box."

My hands went to the casing and after a second or two found the latch. I stuck my hands into the compartment and almost immediately my fingertips ran into something that was cold with firm edges. I traced the fine lines of the heavy metal and the objects name reverberated in my brain as I picked the item up and cradled it almost reverently in my hands. A lump formed in my throat as my mind took me places I didn't really want to go.

"I'll take that," Charlie said as he neatly plucked the large handgun from me. A second or two later a oblong plastic container fell into my lap and I heard a thud of metal against plastic followed by a lock clicking into place. "There ya go." He breathed heavily and paused for a moment or two before daring to speak again. "Okay, new rule. No touching my guns." His tone brooked no argument and in truth I was not inclined to disagree. I had never handled a gun before and in all likelihood the thing was probably loaded. Fiercely independent I may be, but suicidal was not a term I felt like applying to myself. At least not at the moment. A frown overtook my features and I could feel my body tensing as my thoughts stumbled drunkenly down that dark alleyway. I had never considered suicide as a way out, being blind by itself was never enough to depress me. Many people have been blind and led spectacular lives. Ray Charles came to mind immediately as someone who never let themselves be held back by blindness and had managed to lead an incredible life. Loosing my mother however... That made the present situation much more difficult. I was raised in relative isolation, in all reality I lived vicariously through my mother. I had never met my father until I stepped off the plane to move in with him. I never knew my grandparents, didn't even know their names in fact. I felt immediately ashamed of my ignorance and turned to 'look' out the window briefly as I put the proffered shades on. They were horrendously huge and dwarfed my heart shaped face.

"Well darlin," Charlie commented idly, "I must say you look pretty cute in those aviator's of mine."

"Thanks," I murmured. I felt so unattractive at the moment it was not even funny. I wanted desperately to hide and my brain seemed determined to continue its cursed monologue. Why is it that when a person wants just a quiet silence passionately, their own mind turns against them and refuses to shut up?

Growing up with no family ties had left me with no real support in the aftermath of Renee's death. Charlie may be my biological father and so far I have no problem with him, I mean he is 'all right' if you know what I mean. But... I had no emotional connection and I did not even know what he 'looked like'. I sadly compared my knowledge of my newly found family to our old next door neighbors from Phoenix and silently commented that perhaps I would have been better off back in Arizona. A few more minutes of silent tormenting and I finally relented.

"Hey Charlie?" I asked quietly.

"Yes Bells?" Great, he already had a stupid nickname for me. I felt even more stupid for what I was about to ask, but knew that if I didn't the question would torture me for the rest of the day. My brain was annoyingly OCD about unanswered questions and Charlie was the only link I had to my genetic past. I had let the silence linger for too long, I had no choice but to follow through. The question had tormented me for years and my mother had always refused to answer.

"What were my grandparents names?" The question settled into silence and for a minute or two I was not sure he was going to answer either.

"You don't..." He faded off, not finishing his thought. At some level I knew I was not to blame for my ignorance but my face flared up with a heated blush, I could feel it. After a few moments more the car made two quick turns and abruptly came to a stop. "Charlie and Lucy on my side," he uttered the names slowly and with a cadence of deep respect, "Mick and Shelly on your mother's." He grunted and cleared his throat before announcing, "We're here. Best get you checked in at the office." As he got out of the car I could not help but to wallow for a second in my shame and loneliness. I silently decided that while I was not suicidal and would not seek death, if it came looking for me I would not hesitate to embrace it. I opened the door and winced as I heard a solid thud. I glared angrily in his general direction silently daring him to say anything as I examined the resulting damage on Charlie's Cruiser with my left hand and our neighbor's car with my right before closing the door.

As we exited the parking lot I retrieved my cane from my backpack. A prized possession and in a sense the arbiter of my freedom, my adjustable length telescoping cane extended quickly with four audible snaps. Managing my way from the side of the vehicle to the edge of the parking lot would normally be a simple affair. Judging by the noise, the school was somewhere ahead of me and to the left. Unfortunately Charlie felt the need to complicate things giving me step by step instructions. From all the snickering going on I was probably correct in assuming that he was adding some pointless hand waving gestures and making a complete fool and ass of himself. After some idiot yelled out "nice shades" I realized that there was only going to be one way to shut Charlie up and get out of here quickly. Out of sheer frustration I went with it.

"CHARLIE!" I demanded in a loud whisper. "You are not helping." He went silent for a moment and stopped walking at that. I felt a slight bit of remorse for him. He clearly had no idea how to help or deal with me. "Just take my arm and make sure I don't walk into any walls or something equally stupid, OK?" He grunted an affirmative and at a steady march we resumed our pace toward what I assumed was the administration office. An unsettling knot of anxiety settled in my stomach and I tightened my hold on Charlie's arm. Borrowing one of Charlie's guns was starting to look attractive and I was not quite certain how I felt about that.

I don't know what is more annoying. Having someone over help you because you are blind, or having two people talk about being overly helpful to you, and making a large number of decisions for you, all while ignoring your presence in the room. I wanted to hide. To make the whole scenario worse, other people were in the room listening to Charlie and the Principal discuss which courses I would be taking, changes to my already prearranged schedule, having someone walk me around and designing their previously non existent blind learning program.

Then I heard it, whispering just barely audible enough for me to hear. People always underestimate my hearing, being unable to see has encouraged my other senses into picking up the slack. Sometimes it is more of a curse than a blessing. I often hear things I would rather not.

"Did you see that new girl Isabella Swan? She must be mentally retarded or something, Chief Swan had to coax her along just to get her in here." The sound was coming from outside the Principal's office. Likely some office assistant blowing off a real course in trade for an hour of mindless filing.  
"How can you even pay attention to anything else but her clothes?" Ok, I revise that, hiding is not enough. I seriously want to die right now. My fingertips remembered the tracing of Charlie's gun this morning and for a split second I wanted it before I found religion and quietly begged god 'please send someone come rescue me.' Apparently someone upstairs was listening.

"Oh Alice! What a pleasant surprise." I could hear someone stop just outside the doorway to the office. Their pace was light and their feet quiet on the carpet floor but I was somewhat confused. The feet had stopped intentionally and firmly at the doorway, however casual the conversation seemed. You can tell a lot about a person's intent from their footsteps and pacing. The angle they use to approach you, how far away they stop, the beat between each step and the degree of impact that their feet make into the floor all assist a blind person such as myself with classifying an encounter. The intent of a person can be either intentional or casual, the meetings of an acquaintance, a friend, a stranger, or a hostile person. Casual encounters are typically preluded by the sound of feet shuffling across the floor. Such meetings are typically coincidental because the person approaching you does not have a specific intent to stop. Alice's stop was quiet but specific.

"Hello Principal Greene, I was just dropping off some mail for Mr. Berty. Did you need anything?"

"As it happens yes, Chief Swan and I were just looking for someone to assist Ms. Swan here on a somewhat permanent basis. Would you be interested in showing her around and helping her through her classes? She is disabled and will likely need a lot of help." The Principal's sympathetic tone was demeaning and had me on the edge of an angry precipice. I was just a few seconds away from jumping off. Thankfully, Alice gave me an out.

"Oh I am sure she is more capable than you two realize, but I foresee the two of us becoming great friends anyhow." I heard snickering from our peanut gallery and from their hushed whispers it did not sound like Alice had friends either. Maybe she and I would get along. "C'mon, lets go. I will show you around." Needless to say, I followed. As we left the office she unexpectedly twined her arms around mine. Thus linked, she tugged me gently around a corner towards the front desk.

Just out of earshot, Chief Swan turned to Principal Greene. "Let's just put her in all of Alice's classes."

The principal nodded along thoughtfully. "Alright, sounds like a plan. I will have Mrs. Cope see to it." Unseen to anyone, Alice smirked and a small bounce was added to her step.

* * *

"Don't we need to... you know pickup my schedule?" I asked as I was led outside of the doubledoors that led to the administration office. Alice's pace was brisk and I felt slightly paranoid that I was going to trip or run into something or someone within a few moments. I wish she would just slow down. Just as I was about to ask her to we abruptly went from our brisk talk to a sedate walk. Weird.

"All things in good time Bella. First, we simply must do something about your clothes. Seriously! Did your father dress you in the dark?" Alice's remark seemed callous but was spoken in such an friendly tone that I was put off balance. "Don't worry though. I have a pair of jeans with a tank top and blouse in my bag. We will get you out of that outfit right away. To the restroom!" We stopped suddenly and I felt her tug me sideways into a small room.

"Uhh..." I mumbled uncomfortably. "Are they even my size?" I asked awkwardly. I had experienced many weird reactions my blindness. Some people wanted to mock me, others jeer and tease and a few overzealous helpers. This Alice however was taking overzealous helper to a whole new level. Suddenly my brain seemed to connect the dots. It was a setup. She intentionally came to pick me up from the admin office. I do not know if the clothes she was going to have me put on were more hideous than what I was currently wearing, or if I was going to be locked in the room we had just entered and left there for hours. My danger sense started blaring and I began to panic. I had been in similar situations before and these things never ended well.

I tried to stumble back towards the door but the arm that was looped through mine suddenly tightened down and I was left attempting to wiggle out. "Please don't." I could not get free and as my panic escalated I thrashed even harder till I bruised. I tried pushing Alice off, but she did not move at all, she was as still and as solid as a rock. "Let me go! You are hurting me!" I continued struggling for a few seconds more before I ceased my efforts, letting my arms hand and my shoulders slouch. I could tell Alice must be of a shorter stature than me by the way her shoulder matched up to mine with our arms locked, but trying to move away was impossible. Realizing that escape was hopeless, I began to quietly cry.

"Are you done struggling?" Her tone was calm and her words softly spoken as she continued. "Now Bella, there is no need to cry." a cold finger touched my face briefly to wipe away one of my tears and I flinched slightly. "I know some people have done some really mean things to you in the past," she paused a second to pat my arm gently. "But I need you to understand something. My family moved here two years ago and it has been almost impossible to fit in and make friends. Everyone here has known each other since childhood and are in unwelcoming cliques. I am a social creature and have been without a friend for far too long. I promise you, I will never do anything to publicly humiliate or degrade you." She paused a minute and let my arm loose and turned to face me, my face became ice as the back of her knuckles grazed my face. I could feel the unnatural cold of her fingers touching my cheek screaming for my attention. The lack of warmth taunting me with questions I did not even know how to form. "I want you to be my friend, and in time I can see that I will call you sister. That is, if you decide to let me..." Her voice faded into an uncomfortable silence, I could feel the tension increase and my heart started to pound its rhythm in my ears. This was one of those moments you always read or hear about. The pivoting decision that changes the plot of the story down unanticipated pathways.

How to answer? Words seem to fail me now as I stand here, free from her arm but chained by her presence, captivated. I felt an urgent desire and need to know this creature, this Alice. Now loose, my hand twitched and I quickly brought it up to my face level and let it hover, curious fingers outstretched. I must have been only inches away from her face. I was dieing of curiosity and felt like a cat about to use up one of its nine lives.

The silence had become so deep and I almost feared breaking it. "You want me to trust you?" I breathed quietly.

I heard her swallow and clear her throat. "With your life." She giggled after her seemingly over serious request. It was just enough to break the tension. I relaxed, fairly certain that I was not about to end up locked in some rarely opened mop closet. I decided to play along to see where this went.

"Heh, my life huh?" Picking up on her more playful manner I giggled along. "Trust is not something I give easily," I remarked in a superior tone, my nose turned up in the air. I could barely hold my laughter in check. "You ask for much! Do I get something in return for this risk to my life blood?"

"Only immortality, unending beauty, and of course eternal love!" She sang out in a Disneyesque tone. This Alice was a riot.

"Hmm seems like a fair price to pay." I was smiling so much that a dull ache grew in my cheeks. It had been so long since I had smiled and laughed like this. Smiling so hard it hurt. I let a grimace mar my face as the texture of a solid wooden casket came to mind.

"I am glad you think so." She tossed back another quiet laugh that faded off again into silence.  
"...You're different. Aren't you?" I could not put my finger on just what exactly, but in the few minutes I had known her Alice had become a mystery I was determined to unravel.

"My pants still go on one leg at a time, thank you very much... Speaking of pants. It is time to get you out of that horrible outfit!" I began to make a protest, but suddenly found my hands full with denim and soft cotton. "Bella, as your sister I insist! Do not even think about protesting! I know you are the independent type, but I do ask that you let me help you where you do need it... like with sorting out your wardrobe." The sounds of our footsteps echoed lightly and I heard a latch unlocking before I was led into a large bathroom stall, at least there was room for the both of us. With very little delay she began stripping my clothes off of me and within moments I was dressed again and sitting on the toilet as she yoinked off my glasses and began to do my makeup. I quickly closed and averted my eyes. There is just something about someone seeing my eyes that make me feel naked. I have always heard that the eyes are the window to the soul, and never being able to look into anyone else's house always felt... unfair.

"Not even a grope." I commented sarcastically. "I guess that ends my theory of you being a closet lesbian. That is unless you have some weird kinky sisterly incest fetish." I paused for a moment, the thought struck me again. "You don't... Do you?"

"No, I think my husband might have a small problem with that." Her laughter was quiet and light and the way she said 'husband' carried the subtle awe reserved for those truly in love.

I gasped, shocked. "You're married in high school?"

She was quiet for a second and I got an eerie feeling that her mind was clearly focused elsewhere and not on my question. "No, on second thought he would just insist on watching..." She huffed, clearly put out. "Men."

"Alice! Married! High School! Details please!"

"There is not much I can tell you, It is like I woke up one day, saw a vision of him, and found him. We've been together ever since." I was throughly under awed by her description of events. There had to be more to this story. "There, that should just about do for your face, now for your hair."

"Your parent's don't mind?" "We're adopted." She sighed briefly, frustrated with herself. "I should not have let that comment about how Jasper and I are married slip. No one is supposed to know. Please don't tell anyone, okay? Its kind of a secret."

"My lips are sealed." I tried to keep the mood light by locking my lips with a key and tossing it over my shoulder. "You know you can trust me too. I am good with secrets." She took a broad hairbrush to my locks for a few minutes. It felt nice to have someone else do that. It had been a while.

"No jumping down the rabbit hole just yet I am afraid." She paused and forced a giggle. It seemed out of place and I could tell that she was attempting to distract me. She kept on having these pauses that went on just too long too. "My family's secrets are pretty deep and I don't want you running for the woods just yet. You would trip and break a leg on a exposed root or something."

"Oh, I don't know about that." I stood up, "Sometimes you just have to sate your curiosity and be willing to sacrifice one of your 'lives.'" Too bad I wasn't actually a cat.

"It's too bad you are not really a cat." Ok, I was wierded out again. !Danger Bella! signs were attempting to bash me on the head but I pushed forward. Sometimes I could be a stubborn little Bella. "You only get one."

"Can I please see you?" I whispered hesitantly. "I don't normally ask for this. But you... intrigue me." She did not respond for a few moments. I made my request clear by lifting my hand again to the level where I assumed her face was and leaving it there waiting.  
She didn't reply, but after a long silence gathered my hand in hers and brought it slowly to her face. I was a little bit taller than her, the palm of my hand touched the crest of her forehead. It was freezing cold. Not someone has a fever and should be sick in bed, but rather a corpse, kept 'fresh' in a local freezer.

"I was right; you are different." I murmured to myself, I let my hand sweep down her face, my fingers danced along the ridge of her eyebrow and caressed her cheek. "You're beautiful." I let my tracing continue along the arch of her nose, hesitating as she took in a deep breath, until I came to her lips. I pushed in slightly, but her lips did not give any. She shook her head slightly. "Dangerous too." Alice's cold hand gently removed mine and I froze as she let my hand settle along side of me. "What do you do when you find out nothing is as it seems and that the world is full of lies?"

She did not respond for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought, or fighting some urge. "The only thing we can do." She sounded resigned, sad almost. She sounded distracted again, her answers delayed. "Go about our lives, and it is time to go to class." I could hear her clothes rustle as she moved about. "I know you are really confused right now, and probably have a lot of questions I can't answer yet." she chimed. "I cannot promise things will be easy, but I will promise you this." The tone of seriousness was back. It almost made her next words seem less like a promise and more like an oath. "I will do my best to make our lives happy." As we left the restroom with me hanging off her arm again, I could not help but to question my sanity. Futilely I wished for my mother's advice on what to do today. There we a few things I knew as I walked off with Alice to go get my revised schedule from Mrs. Cope. Life here would be nothing like I had ever experienced before. I would actually have a friend here and maybe life would not be as dreary as I feared. Next, Alice was very different... Meeting her was like finding your own Unicorn. I had that instinctual gut feeling that if I let her out of my sight, metaphorically speaking, for just a moment she would disappear forever. For some reason the thought of that made my stomach twist painfully. She informed me that while we had blown 20 minutes in the restroom my schedule had been changed to reflect hers. For some reason she was planning on keeping me close.

That scared me a little. Finding a mythical creature had a sense of finality to it, like it was the end of a story and not the beginning. I had the craziest feeling that my time was nearly up, my leap from the cliff of life was nearly complete with the rocks below waiting to embrace me. The day was not yet over, and I had already traced the outline of death several times. They say when you are about to die you see angels or your life flash before your eyes. Today I had seen the face of something I did not know how to recognize and all I was certain of was that my life would never be the same.

* * *

In a classroom not so far a way a pair of golden half lidded eyes closed once. They opened onyx.

* * *

Thanks for reading!

A big thanks out to Materia-Blade and my wife Vera for helping me with the beta-ing. Also a big hug and kiss to my wife for putting up with my randomly obsessive urge to write. Thank her folks not me.

MarkerIV


	4. Chapter 4

Bella Blind 4 Author Note: Sorry for having this take so long. Made some PoV notes by request. I have been trying to make the PoVs more evident in the writing rather than bluntly saying who's viewpoint it is. Meh author practice in progress.

Recap: -

He did not respond for a few moments, seemingly lost in thought, or fighting some urge. "The only thing we can do." She sounded resigned, sad almost. She sounded distracted again, her answers delayed. "Go about our lives, and it is time to go to class." I could hear her clothes rustle as she moved about. "I know you are really confused right now, and probably have a lot of questions I can't answer yet." she chimed. "I cannot promise things will be easy, but I will promise you this." The tone of seriousness was back. It almost made her next words seem less like a promise and more like an oath. "I will do my best to make our lives happy." As we left the restroom with me hanging off her arm again, I could not help but to question my sanity. Futilely I wished for my mother's advice on what to do today. There we a few things I knew as I walked off with Alice to go get my revised schedule from Mrs. Cope. Life here would be nothing like I had ever experienced before. I would actually have a friend here and maybe life would not be as dreary as I feared. Next, Alice was very different... Meeting her was like finding your own Unicorn. I had that instinctual gut feeling that if I let her out of my sight, metaphorically speaking, for just a moment she would disappear forever. For some reason the thought of that made my stomach twist painfully. She informed me that while we had blown 20 minutes in the restroom my schedule had been changed to reflect hers. For some reason she was planning on keeping me close.

That scared me a little. Finding a mythical creature had a sense of finality to it, like it was the end of a story and not the beginning. I had the craziest feeling that my time was nearly up, my leap from the cliff of life was nearly complete with the rocks below waiting to embrace me. The day was not yet over, and I had already traced the outline of death several times. They say when you are about to die you see angels or your life flash before your eyes. Today I had seen the face of something I did not know how to recognize and all I was certain of was that my life would never be the same.

In a classroom not so far a way a pair of golden half lidded eyes closed once. They opened onyx.

EPOV

Onyx. Deepest black. Eyes that hungered, eyes that craved. A lone syllable of thought passed my lips, "Mine."

Twenty seven students littered the classroom attentively listening at their desks as Mrs. King rambled on about our newest literary study piece, "Huckleberry Finn." Innocent and entirely unaware of the monster that had suddenly broken free of it's chain now held only by a thin cage. Their collective reasoning encouraged them to ignore the hair standing up on the backs of their necks and to write off goosebumps as a chill draft. Ignorant and foolish sheep. A mountain lion was in their corral and they would rather just not see it than acknowledge the threat to their existence. Minutes ago they had been completely safe from me. But now I hungered and my thirst would not be ignored.

It had been at least a week since I had last hunted as my family does. I had planned to go this weekend with Jasper hunting a mountain lion or grizzly, but the real time experience of a scent hit me abruptly as Alice's mental voice trailed off its fascination with foreign language translations and focused on the present demanded my inner monster's immediate attention. I could feel the ever constant trickle of venom surge against my lips as her inhalation drove me to a never before experienced state of distraction. I had to taste that scent first hand.

I made to stand up and leave the classroom, pretenses of humanity left to the wayside, only to find Jasper's iron clad hand grasping me roughly along my shoulder and pulling me roughly back into the seat. The chair groaned with my impact and not a few classmates eyebrows raised at our behavior.

I felt him attempt to overwhelm my growing blood-lust with a wave of lethargy. I could feel his subtle energy making its way through my veins of granite, my diamond hard skin relaxing even as the demon within me roared in indignation and thrashed against its fragile cage of paper mache. Eyes widened to their fullest, I sat paralyzed begging the gods that be for rescue.

Where was my strength? Where was my painfully crafted cage for the monster which eternally raged within the hollow of my soul? My eyes tracked the humans in the room. Venom leaked from the corners of my mouth. I wanted to gorge on them all.

Jasper PoV

The rush of newborn blood lust came out of no where. Edward, normally the most adapted one of us to this life style choice had his emotions suddenly upheave as if he had been reborn only yesterday instead of a century ago. I was struck by the contradiction he posed. His eyes pleading for redemption while his body thirsted and thrashed for damnation. My first attempt to calm him was brushed off. Clearly giving control back to my brother would require more significant measures. I needed to act quickly, I struggle the most with this vegetarian life and just as I influence others around me, so too am I affected. The students in the room were looking a way too tasty for my liking and their continued health.

It was for both Edward's and my own benefit that I used my ability to its maximum capacity and smashed the consciousness of everyone within a football field of me with a herculean battering ram of lethargy. Human minds not accustomed to such things quickly collapsed, most falling asleep under the strain. A few of their heads made loud thumping noises as they crashed into their desks, and the lecturing Mrs Steward fell mid-sentence to the floor, her book thumping as it lay discarded. Edward was merely slightly stunned.

I quickly grabbed Edward by the scruff of the neck and marched him outside. I had no idea what caused him to turn into a rabid dog today but one thing was certain, we were going home before our classmates became lunch.  
"That's enough Edward. We're getting out of here." I spared one quick look for the napping teacher before securing my brother in a headlock and dragging him forcefully to the door. He did not struggle much physically but he was so emotionally in turmoil alternating between the lust of the hunt and self hate that I would not be surprised if my passive projections of his emotions caused a few students to have suicidal thoughts or horrifying dreams that night.

As I pulled him out of the door an ominous rain started to fall. The weight of Edward's hunger was really getting to me and choosing the woods or the car as a destination quickly became a non issue as his blood lust was on the edge of sparking my own. I just had to get us both past the far side of the Gym and into the forest, then we would be home free. At least that is what I thought... Until I saw Alice and her companion.

BPOV

The walk to our first class was taking a long time. I could not quite decide if the delay was intentional or if my new found friend had simply lost herself in her endless discussion of fashion. While normally the topic would be a way to shut down conversation she had an interesting method of keeping me interested. Instead of describing the colors she emphasized the feel and texture of the different styles along with the way she used her style to express emotion.

The bell signaling the beginning of the next period rang, but I could not find myself bothered enough to mind. She even asked me about my preferences for various types of material for clothing. Her almost casual laugh as I mentioned my preference for worn in denim jeans prompted a quiet laugh. "What? Denim not sheik enough?" I shrugged and couldn't help myself as I let a fair bit of sarcasm leak into my tone.  
"No..." She responded pleasantly. "You just have not been exposed to enough sample types. You will have to spend some time over at our house this week so that I can show you my closet."  
"Your closet?" "The Disney World of fashion... for adults." I could almost hear her smile on her face. I let out a small giggle. "Any thrill rides in there?"  
"I am sure I can find a few blue silk pieces that might give you a good run for..." She broke off unexpectedly. Her chipper tone had faded off and her next words began with an air of seriousness that did not fit well within the context of our fashion conversation.

"I might be able to throw in a roller coaster in a few. Hang on and try not to ask any questions, just figure it out. Like a puzzle kay?" It was clear she was not talking about clothing anymore. Rather she was rearing up, a mustang, no... I corrected, my unicorn. Preparing to shed her skin of normalcy and let the world know her presence. I swallowed my nervousness just as I heard her take a deep breath. She gathered me in a hug which for all of its unexpectedness seemed natural to me. I instinctively returned it and felt her bury her nose against my neck. She continued breathing deeply and my body began to unnaturally shake.

"Just trust me Bella, everything will work out just right." She whispered her promise quietly as if the wind would steal the words. "We just need to wait here for a little bit."

"Huh?" I yawned. Suddenly I felt like I was a candle being snuffed out, my flame flickering a few times as my weight collapsed onto Alice's support. "What is happening?" Was all I managed to murmur before the darkness took me.

"My husband can sure knock em out when he wants to." Gathering Bella's slumped form in my arms was slightly difficult. Not because she was overly heavy for my undead arms, but rather because I was forced to carry her in front of a series of windows in order to get her to the back of the school Gym and it had to look somewhat awkward. The attention of the student population was not our goal and not everyone had fallen asleep. Mike Newton clearly watched us as we walked by but he was somewhat distracted by all of his sleeping classmates and wondering why his desk looked so comfortable. I did briefly wave to Emmet and Rosalie and after assuring their curiosity was piped continued my walk. We all needed to be behind the Gym where the grass meets the woods without delay. I had to get Bella into the proper position for her presentation to my family... and those ugly glasses just had to come off. After pocketing the glasses and making sure we were beyond the view of any curious teenagers I carried her swiftly to the edge of the forest and just under the tree cover. We made it with only a second to spare before the rain began to fall. Any moment now and our futures would be decided, one way or another.

The rain quickly turned into a torrent and two figures appeared from around the corner. Any doubt as to their humanity was quickly dispelled as the same scent which tormented Edward hit him full force. The whiff was just enough to again unleash the monster within and with an inhuman heave Jasper was sent into a tree towards the edge of the forest. The loud crack echoed as the tree reached it's breaking point and exploded in a shower of splinters.

A flash of lightning lit the area illuminating Emmet and Rosalie who silently joined the melee as pearl of thunder echoed. Within two feet of Alice they met. Resounding like boulders they collided. The dice was tossed, and when they landed Edward was on his knees, arms twisted behind his back in a wrenching hold from Emmet, with his head firmly grasped by Rosalie.

Alice smiled as Bella chose that exact moment to wake up. Four vampires frozen inhumanly still as a human made apologies for falling asleep on a fifth vampires arm after having been unknowingly abducted over halfway across the school. Three minutes was all it took before the human knew something was up.

There was a sense of unnatural stillness the permeated the air as my internal alarm started sounding. A thickness that I had to mentally push through. As the clouded feeling slowly faded I started reaching out with my senses trying to ascertain just what was going on. My feet squished slightly as I moved them alerting me to the change in ground, the wind was coming from behind me and somehow I was on the opposite side of Alice. Taken individually I probably would have brushed the experiences off and continued on my day. All together however made my weird shit o'meter start to go off the charts. Needless to say I started to explore my surroundings with my stick. I did not have to explore very far. Just in front of me was an obstruction and I reached out to feel for it. I did not anticipate my outstretched fingers running into human hair. Nothing moved around me, not even Alice as I timidly let my fingers continue their exploratory path. The haircut was masculine and fairly short, the scalp cold. The warmest place on a human body was ice cold. I had another unicorn on my hands. It was with somewhat nervous laughter that I let out, "Alice, please tell me you are not the tallest amongst a family of midget unicorns?"

The deep laughter that boomed out did not belong to Alice nor the head that I held gently in my hands. Neither did the soft giggling that shortly followed. The sounds came from either side of the head in my hands and most certainly originated at a much higher altitude. Soon Alice and another voice chimed in and even the head that I was holding onto felt like it was holding in snickers. I was forced to let go as it seemed to lurch toward me and abruptly was pulled away. The sound of footsteps leaving continued at a slow pace for a short while before the noise abruptly disappeared.

Unbeknownst to her, It was with much effort that Emmett and Rosalie dragged an uncooperative Edward off of the school grounds and into the forest.

"You my midget unicorn friend," Emmet chuckled "are going hunting."


	5. Chapter 5

The forest bleed that night. First one elk, then three deer and a bear were claimed by the monster that I had kept carefully locked behind the bars of my will. I was full to the point where I kept killing and draining only to have the blood overflow and drain out the sides of my mouth drenching my clothes in the autumn red. I was full beyond measure but still not sated.

"You are out of control." Harsh words spoken by a velvet voice. It was an interesting contrast. I gazed at my brother and sister silently, man and wife, a man made mountain and beauty crystallized standing beside each other in fine clothing looking impossibly perfect for a couple out in the middle of nowhere while watching my half crazed behavior as I roamed the mountain in my insanity a modern zombie enthralled with my addiction for blood.

"This isn't going to be enough is it?" Emmett's voice broke me out of my silent contemplation of the couple. He paused before speaking slowly, his eyes on the ground as he played with a rock, crushing it slowly between his boots. "It happened to me twice you know. They were dead and drained before I even..."

"We need to have a family meeting," Rosalie interrupted. "We need to move."

"That won't be enough to stop him honey."

"I know. Best to get ready in advance for the inevitable."

For all my strength and willpower, my family knew me. In the face of my singer I was weak. I did not want to kill her but I saw no way out. Even now her smell taunted me from my perfect memory. An ambrosia designed to my particular palate and it had been withheld from me. Even now my family teetered between two extremes. One side, of which Emmett and Rosalie appeared to be a part of, was the "just get it over with and lets move" and the other... "You can be stronger than this but we forgive you if you eat her." Both sets of thoughts were thoroughly depressing. The second for their unachievable expectations and over extending grace and the first for their lack of faith in my character and for being bloody right.

One thing was certain to me however. Even overfilled to sloshing I was ravenous for her. The only thing keeping me calm and from behaving like a mindless animal was the certainty that she would not escape me for long.

The family meeting began as soon as Rosalie, Emmett and I returned to the house. There was something decidedly morbid about sitting around the dinner table with three pairs of matched vampires looking picture perfect while I sat there in torn and blood splattered clothes. This was not the first time the family had this conversation, usually I was on the other side of the table, clean and well kept while either Jasper or Emmett explained to the family why we needed to move. Their transgressions were different from mine however as their victims were already dead and impossible to save, mine was yet still among the living.

The meeting had gone as I had expected. Both sides of the family had agreed that the girl's continued survival had become erroneous. Whether she lived or died, our actions needed to be the same. We were moving. We packed all through the night I listened carefully for a moment when all of them were distracted by packing, and then quietly made my escape.

The woods flew by, my family had no chance of catching me and I heard them confirm thinking about giving chase before returning to packing, considering it futile. It was irritating. I caught a single last frustrating thought from Alice, 'Now its up to her...'

New environments are always tricky for me and to deal with my mothers whimsical nature and penchant for moving to new locales, rapid adaptation was required. I formed a ritual of a sort and now that it was Saturday morning and 'my father' Charlie was out of the house fishing with his friends I was free to enact it.

I started in the corner of my room and braced my hands along the opposing walls of a corner and reached as high as I could while up on my tippy toes, which wasn't that high considering I was only 5'6" and not disposed to high heels. After reaching as high as I could I brought my hands down along the crevice to the floor before getting on my hands and knees. I moved slowly tracing the edges with my hands, finding and feeling the grooves and ridges of the baseboards all throughout the house, finding and navigating my way around various pieces of furniture. Piece by piece an accurate map of the house formed within my brain.

The stiff carpet of my bedroom connected to the hardwood of the hallway. The floorboards were warped with age providing a sturdy yet uneven floor, a place to be cautious. From there was a connection on my left to a linoleum floor. I traced my way through the bathroom, finding the sink, toilet and bathtub. After a quick wash of my hands I moved on. The room across from mine led to a large bed and dresser, Charlie's room. With the upstairs finished I crawled further down the hall and began working on the stairs.

Tracking my prey down was easy. A simple stop at the local gas station's phone booth and a flip through the attached 'yellow pages' yielded the phone number and address of the chiefs house. From there hunting her down was just a jaunt through the woods which conveniently ended in her backyard. As I drew near I started actively listening for her thoughts. It was only when I was within sight of the house that I could identify her thoughts from others which was unusual. They were unique in that I could sense no internal monologue leading her along. Instead her mind seemed focused on physical input, pressure that she was applying and gaining feedback from. It was most odd. Having need to fear of her seeing me I walked right up to and looked through the window to find out just what she was doing. I had yet to catch her scent and she had no hope of escaping me, the monster within me was fine with a few moments of idle curiosity before its meal.

As I traced my way down the thirteen stairs and around the rods of the railings I could feel something change. Feeling slightly silly I called out asking if anyone was there... No one responded. With no real options for hunting down the feeling that was causing the hairs to stand up on the back of my neck I continued. On the west side of the house was the kitchen, its cold laminate floors were edged with rough cabinetry. I felt along the doors, seeking handles and reaching within to identify the various food stuffs. Cereal and canned goods were easily identifiable and hopefully readily edible. I would have to get Charlie to help me put some braille labels on the canned goods so I could differentiate the chili from the peas. I found the bread on the counter and fumbled around briefly when I ran into a block of wood. I had been expecting this, and going painfully slow to minimize the danger. I had found the knife block. I felt along slowly running my hands over the various handles counting each one and taking the blades out and feeling their weight before carefully inserting them back in the block. To be safe in the kitchen I needed to maintain an awareness of where the sharp knives in the room were before reaching into the sink. Thankfully every knife slot in the block was full and the rest of the kitchen safe to explore.

I felt along the stove and oven seeking the placement of the various electric burners and their knobs. Associating the knob to the burner was a little interesting. I had to first feel them out and then turn one burner on and hover my hand over the various units until that one was clear. Clicking them off was simple. The fridge and freezer was easy to find, within however I could only identified what I had assumed to be soda before a taste test revealed beer and several frozen pizzas. After an annoyed sigh at the lack of food choices I moved on.

Now that the danger of the kitchen was over I sped up a little. What I dubbed 'the living room' contained a TV, couch, two easy chairs and a large window. All that remained was the coat closet just to the left side of the main door. I felt along the edges of the door until I found the handle. Upon opening I found what I expected, loads of coats hung from a low rack. Waterproof ones and warm ones were hung side by side and mine had been hung on the far left. Before I could explore the top of the rack the doorbell run causing me to jump. Jumping caused the apparently fragile shelf above the coat rack to fall. Falling caused the loaded shotgun I had yet find to fire. The loud bang shook the house and all I could feel was pain. I could vaguely feel the warm wetness that gushed over my hands that were now insufficiently pressed to the gaping hole in my gut. I stumbled to the front door and unlocked it before opening it a crack. My voice felt weak and quiet.

"Help..."

I had been prepared to murder her in cold blood. I had been prepared to suck the life out of her in a delicious blood splattered orgy. I was not prepared to have her answer my ring already at deaths door with blood leaking out of her mouth crying for help while clutching at a lethal wound in her stomach.

In my momentary panic, I made a rational decision. I called Alice. "Alice!" My voice sounded ragged as I called out for instruction, some direction to this chaotic plot twist that was not a part of any ending I imagined.

"Bite her Edward, bite now." Her instruction was odd but agreed with my instincts and what I had come over to do. Thus granted permission the beast took over and I bit down. It was delicious, it was ambrosia. The life of this beautiful blind girl was spilling over my fingers and my tongue as I tried to keep it within her and suitable to drink. As she sated my pallet and I drank of her deeply, I came to a terrible realization. I was still full, overfull from the night before and had no room left in my stomach to enjoy this rare treat. The bloodlust receded and my thoughts cleared.

I had not been planning to eat her here on her front doorstep. I was going to take her out into the woods until I could enjoy her fully. Now that option was gone and I had bit her and wasn't capable of drinking the rest. My sister had outfoxed me and now I was left with the consequences.

My phone shook suddenly with a text. I glanced down at its message.

'Her dad is on the way back. You have 30 minutes to get out of there!'

"Shit." The word was uncouth and hardly appropriate considering my current company whose white eyes stared about unseeingly as her body was no doubt wracked by pain. I glanced over to her. She probably was not even conscious. Unfortunately for her I had now set her on a path that would lead to being frozen in time. I could not finish drinking her off, and would not kill her otherwise. I set her on the floor before preparing a fire out of some carelessly lying around materials. Cigarettes and couches really don't mix well and tend to spread fire quickly. The flames were just starting to touch the ceiling when I fled back to our house with her in my arms.

One thing was certain, life had just gotten a little more interesting...


End file.
